


Of Souls and Honor

by Petal_dancer



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Feels, Banter, Competition, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Sharing one braincell, Soul Eater AU, Soul Eater References
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:48:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29136549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Petal_dancer/pseuds/Petal_dancer
Summary: Aki, a meister,  has a gap in her memory through her new partner Yusei, they're working to recover her memories. All the while studying at Duel Academy to prevent the resurrection of the Earthbound Immortals.
Relationships: Fudou Yuusei/Izayoi Aki, minor Jack Atlas/Carly Nagisa





	1. A remedial lesson

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is always appreciated!

Neo Domino city.

A bustling city of fair souls trying to live a life of their own, with science and supernatural merging into a blur. A city growing and expanding beyond the original depths of the existing structure. In this large world smaller souls linger amongst the mundane day to day life. 

Aki Izayoi, a scythe meister enrolled at Duel Academy. Opting for a black uniform and grey stripe trench coat, pleated skirt with stocking and garters to match to top off with her athletic heels and green pendant to match; fixing her curler with gloved hands and tied up ribbon she was ready to take on anything that comes her way. Duel academy recently abolished their ranking system on soul gathering, the administration ruling that it was necessary for meisters and weapons to enter on an equal playing ground to find partners; as many students would refuse to partner based on admittance ranking.

It didn’t stop her from busting her ass to aim to be the top student of her class.. It’s what her mother would want after all..

Her weapon? Yusei fudo, the son of an aristocrat who doesn’t quite hold up to his family’s desires. He applied to Duel academy since his father had encouraged him to pursue the sciences, and utilizing his skills as a weapon. Preferring to not wear the duel academy uniforms, as the linens just irritated his skin and felt it impacted his strength as a weapon. Rather opting for dark jeans to match his tank top under his blue slightly oversized leather jacket that contained a unique red symbol on the front with orange orbs lining the neck line of the jacket. Personally Aki would tease that the uniforms were just “too cool” for his style, and he was making excuses to not wear a uniform. He’d roll his eyes and come up with some witty counter banters to spit back. As partners they synced fairly well together.

Though they’re new partners and can sync their soul wavelengths together to fight.. There.. was _some work_ that still needed to be done with their bond. Sometimes they’d get into fights, but that was normal and she still would shut him out at times. They still had trouble producing a resonance, to launch an attack together. The good sign however, is that she’s able to wield him with ease.

Sometimes she still wondered about the silver curler in her hair. She doesn’t remember where she obtained it from and her father refuses to give her any answers in the very few conversations that he would attempt to engage in, as it would only bring the two of them to fighting. It also didn’t help that her own father barely paid any attention to her, that was, when he _was_ home. Now living with Yusei and Twins at Tops, she now gets daily calls from him that she hangs up on him immediately.

Why should she give him the light of day, when he never did when she was at home?

She couldn’t fully escape him since he was a part of Rex’s counsel of Signer Scythes, doubling as a senator for the city as well. This really didn’t work out well for Aki, since most of his work overlapped between the two positions. But it was a minor inconvenience as she no longer lived with him, she lived freely at Tops with Yusei and two twin weapons. Even though she still had to wonder about the engravings on the curler and how she had gotten ahold of it in the first place.

Nonetheless it was another question for another day.

Yusei is grateful for his partner in crime, but by the gods she was _sooo_ stubborn. Organized, but stubborn; it drove him crazy sometimes. Living with her wasn’t too bad, although there’s been more than a handful of times that he’s had to barge in her room at 3am because she was screaming from a nightmare, then immediately refuse help from him. He didn’t understand her reasonings for shutting him out, he started taking naps in the middle of the day in order for him to recharge even if it _did_ interfere with his daily functioning. Though he didn’t mind too much, she’d take notes for him and catch him up on what he missed in class. It wasn’t fair to her that she had to massively adapt to an independent adult in order to function as a person from an early age.

He understands a little bit from Ruka and living together, but it still didn’t bring him any comfort. He just wanted to help her through what was ailing her! That’s what weapons are supposed to do for their meisters right? He had devotion to his meister yes, but he wasn’t lovestruck or anything. Love and feelings weren’t quite his thing, working on his runner and all things mechanical was in his alley.

Although he had noticed that he became more attached to her on an emotional level. Most weapons could be uneasy to the concept of dying for their meister. As most partnerships are found upon a silent agreement to watch each other's backs or at least trusting enough that their meister wouldn’t purposely get them killed. If either of them died in battle, the other survivor would search for another partner to team up with.

Yet, he _couldn’t_ visualize the concept of even leaving her side. It weirded him out whenever one of his friends asked about back-up battle plans. Rather, he’d prefer that he’d stick it out for his meister to the very end. Assuming that everyone really would make it out alive or at least with a few scratches. He had a strong belief that his meister was one of the brightest people he knew in his circle of friends. Although some had teased him about crushing on Aki, even he knew that was far from the truth. He really liked his meister as a person, as a very good friend!

That’s all that they were. Friends.

 _Me? Falling for her? Nah no way, yeah she’s cute.. Me, with her? Nah. It won’t happen._ Shaking his head at the mere thought. 

Yeah, his family had status and wealth, but that wasn’t him. He was Yusei, a guy that liked getting dirty in grease and mechanical parts.

It was absurd that her father even meant to even _accuse_ him of improperly courting her, before doing a complete 180 of accusing him of not “being enough of a man” or whatever. All while in the middle of a holographic call to Rex, talking about his daughter right in front of his daughter. Yes, he threw out a snide comment which earned a well deserved Aki-chop later on, in all reality he cared about her well being!

He just wasn’t the brightest when it came to defending her without toeing minor lines some days.

She wasn’t sure why she and Yusei were requested by Rex Godwin himself. Yes, they were having trouble collecting corrupted souls in the satellite sector, but they were still finding souls at the very least! It always seemed that whenever they had finished slaying the corrupted individual, the corrupted soul would.. Vanish. Primarily by someone else carrying the soul before feeding it to their weapon, as from the affamed "soul stealer" on campus. As far they could tell, this individual was either expelled from Duel Academy or straight up didn’t honor the code of ethics that came to soul collection.

She was relieved that Yeagar was filling in as a substitute today rather than her own father. Primarily due to his skewed priorities for his daughter to pass an upcoming test, than to actually teach a class with balanced priorities.. The huge standout bouquet taking up roughly the size of the teacher’s desk for Aki may have had a minor influence on Rex’s decision to move him back to ‘counsel only’.

Recently there had been rumors roaming Duel Academy that Ushio, one of the most respected Security officers teaching at Duel academy, had gone mad and started a rampage terrorizing students. Some speculate that it’s brainwashing, others have speculated that the man truly lost his marbles.

Although, it was just only that. A rumor.

Yes, Yusei had been caught sleeping in class more on the occasion, but it’s not warranted to warrant an expulsion or anything! Aki would catch him up after classes to help him if he ever did fall asleep so it wasn't like he was failing either.

In a way it was an equal exchange of help that they developed from living together.

“ Why do you think we were called?”

The way up to Rex’s office always seemed to ascend in a spiral set of stairs jetting out into straight platforms, overlooking the classrooms below. Taking a relaxed pace up the stairs as the two of them didn’t want to go back to class just yet. Yusei let his hands cradle his head while they walked at a relaxed pace. 

“ I dunno.. Maybe he’s had enough of you studying “

He started chuckling as she shoulder checked him a little in annoyance but mainly in playfulness. She knew that he was teasing her to help calm her nerves. He didn’t always know the best ways to calm her down but he would try. To her, that’s all that mattered in her opinion. She tried filling her mind with positive thoughts instead.

_Maybe it was a promotion for the two of them to an accelerated class? Or what about an extra lesson on different fighting techniques or–_

Yet to her unfortunate surprise, her thoughts were interrupted by a strangely familiar booming voice. If she didn’t know any better, she would’ve thought a banshee with a superiority complex had entered the building.

“ I see no GOD up here! Other than ME!”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, muttering “ Oh crimson help me”; while her partner heaved a sigh in slight discontent. The two of them stopped in their tracks, as lo and behold the all-mighty Jack Atlas boasted about his ego back up into the heavens.. _Yet again_. Fully well knowing that Jack probably is in trouble for trying for scaling to the outside classrooms and attracting attention to himself.. _Again_.

A young woman about Jack's age, with dark green hair tied into a braid with trifocal glasses dematerialized from her chain scythe mode; a little stressed that he’s not taking the name of the assassin quite as seriously as he should be.

“ Jack.. Um I believe the first rule of assassination is to not make yourself heard?..”

“Ah! Carly! You underestimate me! I meant to blow my cover!”

He turned to his weapon giving a hearty borderline obnoxious laugh, before leaning in to whisper to her.

“ But I can definitely take these suckers on next time around. They won’t know what’s coming” Carly gave out a defeated sigh as she _knew_ that he wasn’t taking this seriously.

“R-right of course!”

Aki, entirely annoyed by his presence, decides to give him a little tip. Being booksmart means double timing as a tutor as well, at least with her group of acquaintances. She doesn’t know how him and Yusei met but their wavelengths were quite chaotic with each other at times.As she couldn't understand why the blonde self named assassin wore chains to his get up of flared pants and a grey shirt meant to blend in to the winter shadows. The giant 'A' shaped earrings and red embrodiery on his chest didn't quite spell blending in. 

“Jack… You should take her advice and shut up. Listen to your partner for once, it’s not that hard!”

Yusei, _really_ wanted to make a comment about that last sentence, as she too had a hard time grasping that concept at times; primarily when it came to accepting help. Visibly trying to restrain himself from making a comment by pressing his clasped hands over his mouth. But if he were to make a suggestion in front of Jack, he wouldn’t even remotely listen to her even in his after life. So he gave a mental prayer in hopes that Jack Atlas doesn’t make any stupid moves. Jack is just as subtle as three jets crashing and burning into the nearest mountain, he.. really didn’t have any hopes for his friend.

Jumping down from one of the open support layouts, he shrugged. Letting Carly materialize into her human form, as Aki gave carly credit; she had the decency to match and do a better job of blending in than Jack, but she too brought attention to herself from the embrodiered A landing right on her chest. Carly gave a pleasant smile, in attempts to stroke his ego to listen to her. Nonetheless, his ego was stroked as his expressive self crossed his arms to give a smirk.

“Hmph! That doesn’t matter because it will be me! Jack Atlas! Will be the one to beat the Crimson Dragon with my own TWO hands!”

Although, that didn’t always mean that this technique worked all the time however. Yusei, in his competitive nature, always attempts to drive jack atlas up a wall in terms of defiance, just to get him riled up; decided now was the perfect opportunity to mess around with him.

“Oh yeah? I bet that you can’t surpass the gods; let alone beat me in a race going up these stairs. ”

“YOU’RE ON LOSER!”, leaving their partners behind much to their protests. The two boys decided to race on ahead, leaving both Carly and Aki behind. The two gave out a collective sigh as they could hear the two distinct voices echoing through the open stairwell. Some yelling about surpassing god, cheating accusations, rebuttals, and general competitive banter. As the girls started to calmly walk the stairs to catch up to their respective partners.

“Carly sweetheart.. How do you manage to put up with him?”

“ Well.. with my Jack? He’s.. a bit to handle. You just need to have the right wavelength with him!”

Aki silently but respectively rolled her eyes as the two continued up the stairs… To meet their partners huffing as Yusei had apparently declared victory this time around. Though Jack continued to argue otherwise. Their verbal argument as their attention drew to the attention of their partner’s footsteps, urging them to hurry up; both with smiles on their faces.

Rex Godwin in his office, gave a cheerful smile to the four and classic exaggerated.. gestures. Always a sharp dressed fellow, always in a grey buttoned up suit that gave a clear indication that not only he was incharge of Duel academy, but ranked as a major leader in Neo domino as well. Though why he had combined resources from the Public maintenance department into Duel Academy was still a mystery to her.

“ Heya hiya! How's it goin?!”

His office always seemed to hold an in-between of a technological masterpiece that Yusei could spend a few months rewiring and figuring out, just how his office functioned. Whenever Rex had called him in, he’d always end up marveling around the room rather than focusing on his words. It doubled as an ethereal realm, short between the heavens, where the next stairway to heaven was, and will always be a mystery. Spacious, but yet somehow very small and limiting at the same time. It still confused him why his office was fairly spaced out and his desk practically in a corner, with the mirror on the other side.

“As I’m sure you all heard the rumors about Ushio attacking students on school grounds. I have a feeling that there’s a little more than what meets the eye. Someone pulling the strings perhaps behind the scenes."

_It’s more than a rumor after all.._

Rex had turned away to face the mirror in his office, technology that would serve as a holographic communicator from within Neo domino and other individual communicators.

“ Remind me, what does it mean to be a student at Duel academy?”

Aki stiffened her posture, similar to an attentive stance. With the silence magnifying the focus on her.

“ To collect the corrupted souls to prevent the resurrection of the Earthbound Immortals; with the absence of the signers and protect the citizens of this city, sir!”

Rex couldn’t help but to give a compliment, seeing how much that she resembled her mother. Rex may have been a few years ahead of Aki’s mother, she had inherited her mother’s resilience and intelligence for sure. Though a little saddened that Hideo still couldn’t figure out how to function without what he’s assuming is his ex-wife. Though Hideo finally stepping up to attempting to be an actual father figure to Aki seemed to be a little bit of good news to him.

“ You take your studies quite seriously Aki."

She gave a silent nod of acknowledgment, beaming with pride with the devotion in her studies. Earning a small smile from Yusei, which Rex Godwin did seem to notice but decided not to say anything about it. Unlike Aki’s father, he at least had the decency to keep his comments to himself.

Boy, was he going to take some bets amongst the faculty later at poker night.

After all, Yusei’s father still works at the Momentum Outpost near the satellite sector. Keeping an eye on one of a couple of Earthbound Immortals sealed underneath and around Neo Domino. He couldn’t exactly uproot an entire city but he wasn’t going to let anyone tamper those seals as long as he was alive. Giving Yusei’s father an update on his son growing up would bring joy to him. Knowing that Professor Fudo loves his son despite being hard, and some cases unnecessarily hard on his son.

“ Do you know what you all four have in common?”

The four of them quizzically looked at each other before having the same expression back to Godwin. The four of them were a patchwork of backgrounds, they had nothing in common besides the fact that they are partnered. Rex Godwin, turned back with a cheerful glance of a professor who had an easy time grading homework. Letting his hands shape themselves into zeroes.

“ Zero collected souls!”

The four of them held their breath with avoidant glances.. except for Jack. He had a hard time being able to read the room. Somehow they couldn’t figure out what was coming next; Rex godwin may have the literal same expression of cheerfulness around his students, but based on the context of conversation it usually wasn’t too hard to figure out.

“ Now since you four have a collection of zero, you get a prize!”

Three of them could only feel a rise of suspicion while Jack, only became a smidge excited at the prospect of a reward.

“ A remedial lesson! ”

Carly, and yusei didn’t feel too worried, rather just relieved that it was just that. Jack was trying to suppress his relief and joy that it was just only a remedial lesson for him this week. Aki on the other hand, held disbelief in her heart; the sensation that she had failed a test with a big 0%.. Only before the news only got even worse.

“ Oh one little other thing if you four fail, you all will be _expelled_! So.. try not to mess this up. M’kay?”

Carly and Yusei could feel themselves pale to let life drain out of them. Mainly at the fact that since they had screwed up, they were going to pay for it with their grades. Aki was already crying internally that she has to not only do a remedial lesson, but if she fails all of her hard work will be undone! She almost considered asking rex to drop kick her from the top of duel academy into the nearby sea instead. Jack, unsurprisingly, started laughing in the face of danger, joking how the bookworm and her idiot partner had to do a remedial lesson.

Although this quite earned a slap on the back of his head from his weapon, Carly had beaten Rex Godwin to the punch this round. She was rarely bold and straight-forward in terms of facing her partner, but when it became appropriate she’d slap some sense into her careless meister.

“ Jack! Now’s not the time!”

Jack started rubbing the back of his head where Carly smacked him, still remotely shocking Aki and yusei. With the two of them thanking the stars that their dynamic isn’t that violent. Giving him a harsh scolding before turning back to a sweet, calm self again. In some ways her sudden shifts in personality could unnerve Jack and Godwin at times. Jack because well she could go batshit crazy at any point on him but she chooses to hold herself back, while Jack wakes up and ‘chooses violence everyday’ as Carly would put it. To Godwin, well, wouldn’t be unnerved by a sweet girl going to an aggressive mode before going back to reserved?

The quiet ones were almost always the most deadliest by his standard.

“ I’m sorry Director Godwin.. Please go on.”

Rex gave a small smile at Carly’s sincerity, impressed that she always gives an equal amount of respect to Jack despite the fact that he couldn’t find what ‘humble’ meant in the dictionary.

The four of them returned to a neutral stance focused on Rex's next directions to complete the mission.

“ I feel that you four are suitable to subdue Ushio and take on whoever is behind this."

The four of them straightened up their posture to give a unanimous;

“ Yes sir!”

As they left the office, they knew what they needed to do to start a path to redemption. Jack was still going on about how he was going to surpass the gods and fight the Crimson dragon with his own two hands. As Carly was doing her best to support his different ideas on how to obtain that goal, despite with Jack’s current inability to focus on assassination techniques to be able to achieve that status.

Aki didn’t hesitate to jump down stairs and skip over steps to head to their next destination. Jack was definitely right about her being a bookworm, but she wasn’t going to let him have the final laugh. She won’t surpass god by any means, but she will restore herself to be at the top of her class and truly deserve that title. It was one, she wasn’t going to let anyone else have.


	2. Fighting Faculty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang face the professor in the satellite sector!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't updated! Classes have been hectic this month and I'm slowly getting the swing of things. This is my first time writing an actual fight scene so please leave feedback for me! Absolutely tear it apart if you need too!

_“There should be some clues in the satellite sector in the old factory work district.”_

Satellite, an island claimed by Neo Domino City, once isolated, now united under years of neglect derived from a promise of a new tomorrow. The existence to the public for Satellite's existence changed from time to time, from a biohazard disposal site to theories of an established cult on the island, with elected officials appointed as leaders of this cult that worship ancient deities. Science has brought speculation of an earthbound immortal lying dormant underneath the land under Neo Domino City; it couldn't be disproven. 

Of course once mysterious wavelengths started to faintly be detected in the city, the decision to build outpost towers to monitor these wavelengths around the perimeter passed for funding almost immediately. Of course, the first main tower would connect in the Satellite sector, as the mileage away from Neo Domino would provide less of an eyesore so to speak. Which resulted in a connection of these two islands and investment into Satellite to avoid tarnishing the clean city that was Neo Domino. However, only one tower had been built as the citizens were quite unhappy with an enormous tower obstructing the view of the sunsets and sunrises on the coastline. 

Despite Satellite being connected to the mainland, the crime rate was still significantly higher than in Neo Domino city. Which already put Yusei on a medium alert, he trusts Jack to be quiet when it was necessary to focus on outside dangers but he still had to work on coordination skills for being quiet and keeping an ear out.

They didn’t quite blend in with their surroundings, mainly Aki and Yusei. Carly and Jack knew how to dress for their surroundings at the very least. If anyone knew the best of this sector it’d be Jack. Jack preferred to do everything himself as Carly was solely casted aside as support, which would explain his inability to collect souls.

However Yusei couldn’t keep his gaze off the tall decorated tower that made no attempts to blend into the sector of the slums of the area. Rather it was a jarring contrast, despite the recovery work to boost the socioeconomic status of Satellite, it still looked and felt divided. Most sector security officers from Neo Domino were placed in Satellite, mainly placed at the Momentum Outpost towering over the tiny island.

Securing what? Most outsiders don’t know nor really care to learn about. As long as there wasn’t an immediate disaster that affected them, it was okay for the citizens to not know. Yusei knew it was a research facility but that’s all he knew whenever he had asked his father. Though his father would skim over the question and would ask about his meister yet instead.

_“One day you’ll understand, after you become a Signer Scythe I’ll be able to tell you.”_

Right now he couldn’t focus on that, they needed to find Ushio and take him down. Through the streets of Satellite he couldn’t shake the feeling of being followed, he couldn’t sense souls of course. Though it didn't take long for them to reach their destination. A dusty rotting factory; which judging on the outside seemed to be one that used to house tires or rubber based materials. 

“ I think we’re here. Let’s go inside and stick together. It's dangerous in here.” As the four of them pried open the door, the scent of must and metal wearing away from time greeted them, though power still coursed through the electrical and ventilation systems. Which to Yusei, seemed odd. Though for all he knew, someone could've hot wired and rerouted electricity into the building, for illegal activity of course. So as of now he shook it off, as it could be running on the original system in place. 

In the main sector of what they're assuming is an open factory, they started scouting. Jack offered to keep watch although everyone assumed that he wanted to attack first when the trouble starts. Carly started taking down notes, for what Aki wasn't sure. All she could focus on was the glaring failure in her face being reflected in the Fluorescent work lights above her and the electrical hum of a generator from somewhere in the building. 

Lying down against the floor grate, Aki Izayoi felt like she was going to die from humiliation. As her, a top student academically, is performing a remedial lesson with _Jack Atlas_ ; the assassin who’s going to kill god.

_How embarrassing.. Momma what do I do now?_

Yusei, finally filled out a line of his bucket list, messing around with the electrical of an untouched factory setting; the bonus was no legal recourse from breaking and entering. The lock out tag out system was completely obliterated, making it very simple for him since he didn’t have to pick a lock or look for a key. Upon opening the panel, most of the electrical system was _replaced?_ He wasn't an inspector but for a factory to be shuttered decades ago, it _shouldn't_ have brand new electrical wiring. 

_Why would an old and clearly outdated factory have a brand new electrical system?_

The fluorescent lights flickered, before shorting out and shutting off all power in the building. Leaving it pitch-black except for the moonlight coming in through the open windows. Aki listening to the sounds of the power slowing down, shot up and leaned on her forearms to support her body weight.

“Yusei, what did you do?”

Panicking a little he didn’t hesitate to defend himself, after all he only opened the panel! He didn’t even touch the delicate wiring. Trying to figure out if it was only their sector that got shut off or if it was a city wide shut off to conserve power. 

“ Aki it wasn’t my doing I swear!”

She rolled her eyes, knowing that this wasn’t the first time that he was playing around with electricity. Jack could hear sounds of faint thumping, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint the source of it. _Where is that coming from?_

Generally trying to follow the maze of vents, he knew whoever was in the vents was close, _too close_ for his comfort.

“ Yusei! Get the lights back on!! NOW!”

He didn’t even need to look back, trying to figure out which switches are responsive based on observation, as he didn’t have any equipment to speed up the process or to fully blow a circuit.

“ Working on it!”

Jack started focusing on the sound of the vent through by changing his breathing, trying to predict where this person or thing is headed. With only three visible grates connecting what he’s assuming one giant vent, he could see the next opening. And Aki was laying right on top of it.

“ Aki! You need to move! NOW!”

Nodding, she started to get up off the grimy floor. As she swept her legs over the now unsecured grate, a warm human touch gripped her ankle. Her eyes widening with little time to react she did her best to grip onto something although the smooth metal floors weren’t working in her favor, ultimately resorting to screaming out for her weapon.

“YUSEI!”

Abandoning the electrical panel, he was unable to get the lights to return. She _never_ yelled like that unless she was in immediate danger. He bolted down from the stairs to her, hoping to get enough momentum to get himself spinning into his weapon form as his meister was currently being pulled into the vents below. Hoping that he’s not too late. Fortunately for him, she was able to latch onto him in weapon form before being fully pulled down into the vents by one enormous person..

Attempting to pull herself out of the enclosure, the tug of war forced the floor to the maintenance vent connection giving way forcing her to slam down into the unforgiving sheet metal breaking her fall. Though she was freed, they would have to find another vent to escape from, after taking down Ushio.

The man, myth and the legend.

Overall speaking he _looked_.. fine. He didn’t look possessed. Though, he clearly wasn’t the same person that he once was, an unusual amount of anger perhaps? She couldn’t quite tell. Ushio didn’t just go around attacking students for no reason. The lack of lighting from poorly spaced out exits didn’t help their situation whatsoever.

“ I’m a shell of a man. The man I used to be is not who I am.”

She leaned to her weapon, whispering to exchange intel to her partner, gripped in her left hand. Attempting to figure out the situation and quickly with her partner.

“Yusei. He doesn’t look possessed.. Do you think it’s mind control?”

Yusei heard of experiments with mind control, but his information was pretty limited. In the investigative work he’s done on the internet with Carly after class, he was able to find pieces and stubs of articles of the Arcadia Movement conducting these types of experiments posted for the public to see; as far as he could find, those experiments ended in failures.

“ Could be. We'll have to be careful though. ”

Giving a nod to acknowledge him she turned her attention back to Ushio, With low visibility I’m going to have to be on defense to wear him down.

“ We don’t want to hurt you Professor. Just put the.. the ..”

She guided her eyes to Yusei because even she didn’t know what he was holding.

“ Hydraulic press Canister.”

“ Just put the hydraulic press down and we can talk it out."

Yusei rubbed his brows in annoyance as she was referring to an entire press rather than a piece of said hydraulic press. That was always a peeve with him, even Jack would purposely mis-name mechanical tools and parts to get a rise from his nerves.

“ That was my old self. You hear that bell? Class is beginning.”

Furrowing her brow, she tightened her grip on the staff of her scythe, seeing that they were going to have to fight. Whether they liked it or not.

“So take your SEATS.”

As he started charging towards the two, she quickly looked for a means of an escape. Which to her, she had to summersault out of the corner before being crushed under the metallic canister, taking out part of the climbility to the vent. With Ushio swinging the canister at her, his weapon met with an echoing clang against her blade, metallic ringing in her ears.

“ I’m going to have a headache for a good week from this.”

Rex, watched the fight unfold from the comfort of his office. 

“ So it seems that they’ve found him.” Rex, contently watched the live feed from the mirror in his office.

“ Yeah, I mean c’mon. They’ve got this.” Rex gave his apprentice a glance considering the current team lineup. A boy around Yusei’s age relaxing in Rex Godwin's office chair with his feet propped on his desk. He didn’t exactly trust Godwin, but he made a deal and he was going to uphold his end of the bargain.

“ Okay. _Maybe_ I’m giving Jack too much credit. With Jack not in charge they’ve got a chance to complete this.”

Filing his nails he gave a slight chuckle at the twins perking up to back up his statement.

“ With Yusei and Aki they’ll do great!”

Rua backed up his sister’s statement gleefully.

“ Yeah! Yusei wouldn’t let _anything_ happen to his meister!”

He’d taken an interest in that particular statement. Now he wouldn’t let anything happen to his weapons, they’re children after all! It’d be cruel to leave weapon children to defend themselves when his former weapon was a child. With Jack being himself, he was surprised that he’d found a weapon that would put up with his egotical speeches and selfish nature. The twins, born as weapons, are still learning to correlate a trifecta of soul wavelengths, tuning themselves together with their new meister.

“ Oh? And how do you know that?”

Rua climbed onto the desk sitting at the boy’s feet in excitement of seeing action. The both of them were still too young to formally enroll at Duel academy within his section, but since his apprentice has agreed to team up with the twins they are technically students within that section.

“ Yusei’s really protective of Big sister aki! He’s with her alot and stays with her when she has bad dreams and he lets us watch movies altogether.”

Ruka nodded in agreement with her twin with a soft smile.

“ He’s really nice to her. I mean he did let her move in with us!”

He gave a cunning smile. He loved _learning_ about others, even if it meant using it to his own advantage. Normally it would just mean in a means of defense due to his surroundings of where he grew up. He wanted to make his caretaker proud of him after all. But with the right resources he can afford to have a little more fun during his training.

“ Oh? Is that so?”

_Interesting. If I ever get to meet these two on my nights out, I’m gonna have such a fun time._

Watching from above the vent Jack and carly could hear the clanging and grunts of anger from fighting. Unfortunately the vent aki was pulled through severely tore up the entrance way and the duo would have to find another vent to enter though.

“ Carly. We’re going in after them.”

The clanging metal made it audibly difficult for Jack and Carly to pinpoint where the two of them were. Nodding, with the both taking in a sense of seriousness to address the issue that is Ushio at the current moment.

“Right.”

Jack in all of his glory decided that now was a good time to gloat. 

“ I’m gonna be the one to get ‘em.”

Carly gave a sigh as she materialized into her normal chain scythe mode. 

_There he goes again..._

Holding his partner in weapon mode in his hands, he headed down the stairs he halted. Determining that if he was going to assassinate him, he was going to have to distract him from behind with the element of surprise so to speak. Gazing around the room he found another vent in the room to tear into. Carly seemed a bit confused, as they were detouring from a direct opening presented to them.

“ Are you sure we should head through here jack?"

Jack scoffed and rolled his eyes a bit, wishing that his partner would just trust him on this decision just once.. Okay _maybe_ he's taken a few wrong turns when looking for their target. But Neo Domino was a massive city! The two of them were bound to explore it together at _some_ point.

“ Carly, I know _exactly_ what I’m doing! ”

Giving out a sigh she gave a supportive thumbs up, before using the blades to break the rusty lock and jumping on in. Starting in through a maze of darkened halls, her voice broke the silence with her cheery optimism. 

“ What’s the plan jack?”

Aki, couldn’t land a hit.. No it wasn’t that she _couldn’t_ land a hit, it was something else. Something was holding her back. What was it? She wasn’t sure. Something in her kept screaming to stop and try to talk it out further. That she shouldn’t be fighting another full blooded human, it just wasn’t right. A vague memory wanting to return, it wasn’t from practices in class. No, this was far too escalated to be a practice session. What was she fighting internally? It’s just a normal fight as if she was sparring with Yusei. The low visibility in the halls didn’t quite help, yes she could see immediately in front her but that was really about it. So at the very least that didn’t help the problem that was Ushio.

_clang!_

“ Where is _he_ when you need him?”

Aki, tried to sweep Ushio, but alas her legs were just slightly too far back for swift contact. So she settled for trying to shove him back with Yusei instead.

“ Jack?”

“ _Urk_ –Who _else_?”

Yusei rolled his eyes as she did have a point. Though he could see that her fighting style was _off_.. even for her. She needed to land a hit on ushio, it wasn’t like her to hold back even when they go all out for soul collection, let alone in a sparring match between them to keep their skills sharp outside of the classroom.

“ You can’t keep guarding you need to get a hi–“

“ I know! I .. can’t find an opening!”

“You’re holding back! He’s going to hurt you if you don’t do anything!”

_clang!_

Aki gritted her teeth in annoyance trying to fight an emerging memory. It felt familiar, though primarily from an audio point. Yes it's a common phrase that many people use especially in combat, but in this very circumstance with the adrenaline in her veins. Zoning out as faint flash broke through her mind of someone in a lower ocative yelling at her with the same words Yusei had used. Which clanking and yusei yelling pulled her back into her current reality of attempting a hit on Ushio.

“ Do _you_ have any suggestions on where to hit him then?" 

Gritting his teeth he started looking for a vantage point that aki could gain access to, all hoping that Jack wasn't taking his sweet time. 

“ Make a right here."

The two came at a crossroads in the vents, the two jutting off into halls of darkness, with faint sounds of e

“ No Carly I’m pretty sure I need to make a left.”

“ Jack. The metallic clanging is coming from the right. Not the left.”

“ If we get lost. I’m blaming you.”

Giving out a defeated sigh she accepted her fate with Jack Atlas not listening to her once again for the fifth time today, though he ended up listening to Carly's advice of heading in the right direction. Trekking silently amongst the cold maintenance vent, the sounds of frustrated yells and metallic clanging becoming closer.

…

Aki, finally shoved her morality aside and started to attack back. Slamming the butt of the staff to his stomach, forcing ushio to lose his grip on his makeshift weapon to fall backwards onto the cold floor. Twirling Yusei to knock the catapulting canister out of his hand and into the wall of the maintenance vent.

“ _On. Your. Knees_.”

Struggling to get back up, he did what he was told currently defenseless. Though plotting to get his weapon back lying by the wall.

“ _Now_.”

Ushio threw his hands slowly up in surrender, seeing that he was outmatched.. Temporarily. Aki turned her attention to the familiar faint voices bickering in the maintenance vent.

“ See? I told you it was this way!”

“ Jack atlas _never_ makes any mistakes.”

Aki rolled her eyes with her grip still on Yusei. Not realizing that Ushio is slowly shifting his weight to prepare for a counter attack. Yusei diverted his attention back to Aki to give a warning a little too late.

“ Aki, watch out!”

Ushio swept his feet right at her ankles, forcing her to fall backwards into the floor of the cold metallic vent. The force caused her a delayment, Jack not hesitating started to head a running start. They may have their differences, but he wasn’t one to abandon a teammate, he’d never hear the end of it from Carly.

“Carly!”

She gave a nod, they were ready.

“Right!”

The wave of their souls started to spark, forming a synchronous length resonating with each other. Synchro summoning an attack right from the pit of their very souls.

“ Resonance! ”

In the midst of a moment Carly let her chain scythe of a body extend to an extended range. Catching her, Jack winds up his right to release her in Ushio’s general direction chanting to activated their resonance,

“My burning soul!”

“Transcending time!”

Their soul wavelength metronically hit an equalizer as their voices mixed together in harmony.

“Future Vision!”

Aki, unfortunately chose the wrong time to stand back up, as she found herself, her weapon and ushio encapsulated with chains binding the three of them together. Both Yusei and Aki were quite angry with Jack, while Ushio was more than a bit underwhelmed.

“Jack! Get us out of here!”

Jack couldn’t help but laugh at the three of them trying to struggle against the chains. There was no way that she was going to avoid this for the next week or so. Ushio had to give a small chuckle at the small mishap. As Jack tried to help Carly figure out how to help out Aki and Yusei without letting Ushio out of his constraints.

“ See? I told you that they had this settled!”

Rex had to give out a sigh, squeezing his hands behind his back.

“ This is only the beginning of their test. They’ve at least passed the first part. Yet.. Yusei and Aki still have yet to produce a resonance with each other. I’m fairly certain that they’re able to complete it, yet she’s hesitating.”

“ Well, they were trapped in a maintenance vent in an abandoned factory in the practical slums of satellite Rexy–boy. I really doubt that she’d want the entire place to collapse on themselves with no means of escape. After all, what do they have to do next?”

Rex rolled his eyes at that nickname, he desperately wanted to pummel him for it but he _needed_ him for his plan to keep the earthbounds subdued. 

Brushing the dirt and grime off her uniform overcoat, she crossed her arms. Yusei returned to his human form, without a scratch on him but still disappointed that they haven’t performed a resonance.

“ What happened professor? It’s not like you to attack students.”

Carly mostly returned to her human form, letting the braid in her hair still act as ushio’s current prison.

“ You’re right Aki. That’s not who I am, y’see it’s Professor Bruno. He gave me this drug and my mind just went haywire from adrenaline. You guys have to stop him before he gets to any of the other staff at Duel Academy.”

Yusei and Aki glanced at the other two for credibility, indicating that he wasn’t lying about the perpetrator, her gaze returned to his.

“ Will you show us the way back to his laboratory?”


	3. Tested to the Limit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aki, Yusei, Carly and Jack (with captive Ushio) head to the border to face Professor Bruno! Will they make it out alive?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this took a bit to write but it's done! 
> 
> Please read and review!

_“ Professor Bruno has a laboratory near the border between Satellite and Neo Domino.”_

Walking through the brisk streets of Satellite, pins could be heard dropping outside of muted arguments and the insults of drunks insulting their group. Luckily it wasn’t something that was dwelled on by the entire group. Ushio could care less and had to restrain himself to keep his cover. Aki lacked a bit of faith in herself, trying to figure out what happened in the battle that just took place not that long ago. Yusei gently pulled Aki aside to mutter to her as the others continued on ahead. Placing his hands on her shoulders, strained with worry and confusion; just looking for answers to a puzzle.

“ Aki, what the hell happened back there? “

A bit wary even though she couldn’t quite put it into words, yes she had taken the defensive but that’s what she was supposed to do! Though the audio of another man’s voice that didn’t feel familiar yet flashed through her mind still didn’t put her at any ease. Rather it was another question in her mind that shook her to her core, though right now she needed to focus. She had a job to do. Initially avoiding his bright blue eyes, she took a chance and replied with a calculated answer quite on the fly; readjusting the curler in her hair.

“ I.. It wasn’t anything important. I just freaked a bit, that’s all. It’s different fighting a brainwashed human than a corrupted person."

It wasn’t a complete lie after all, she had to take a different approach to battling Ushio. Though the switch in audio unlocking something in her brain was just something she couldn’t shake off as a coincidence any more. Yusei raised an eyebrow slipping his hands into his leather jacket pockets. Her expression gave a subtle indication that something was off. Maybe it could be related to her night terrors she’s been having for who knows how long. As he started to speak back up, Jack’s familiar voice interrupted.

“ Hey! You comin? “

Rolling his eyes at his interrupted thoughts, partially turning towards the two ahead he gave an answer to an impatient Jack, with typical taunting.

“ At least we’ll figure out how to defeat the gods as a team rather than a solo act, Jack!”

Jack at the very least started swearing and a very stressed Carly had to hold him down while keeping Ushio tied up. Yusei was always impressed by the sheer amount of strength Carly possessed, as she did have some muscle tone to her arms. Carly quite had more build up compared to Aki but nonetheless, they were women who could kick their asses when needed.

“ We.. We can talk about this later. Jack’s right we need to catch up before we fall behind. “

Yusei gave a brief nod, keeping a close eye on his stressed meister, letting her go ahead of him to catch back up to the other two. With frustrations and yells of pride exchanging through the alleyways of Satellite.

A full moon shining down upon the five, finally reaching their destination towards the border between the two districts. A relatively comfortable sized home, visible gears churning on the outside and presumably on the inside; giving a symphony of mechanical resonance. A wide courtyard, most of the path way made out of concrete gated into a path of hell.

“ So.. This is his lab huh?”

The scent of gasoline and oil danced through the air, against the flat post modern era of architecture, a familiar scent to Yusei; though everyone else was a bit overwhelmed.

“ I guess so.. It smells like you once you get back from your workshop, yusei.”

Yusei rolled his eyes while his meister giggled a little bit, as she did have a point. Though he wouldn’t give it up for the world, his workshop was a safe haven for him. He did move out but since the twins didn’t have the proper set up to work on his project, he was allowed to work back at home until he could get the proper equipment to set up his own workshop. Though that moment of joy wasn’t going to last for long as the sounds of something rolling came closer and increasingly louder to them.

A man with blue hair dressed in a laboratory uniform.. with some sort of mechanical piece attached to his skin slid to the door in a fairly beat up swivel chair. Adjusting the .. piece, he started inspecting the students standing right at his doorstep. Taking a look at Aki’s uniform, he gave a smile while rolling his neck.

“ You all must be from Duel Academy huh?”

Leaning against his chair, Carly gave a snappy answer to the professor. A bit upset about what information she was able to grill out of Ushio on the trek from Satellite to the border of the two districts.

“ Yes. “

Aki spoke over Carly, which annoyed her as Carly is the main interrogator of this mission! Not Aki!

“Professor Bruno is it? Why are you doing this? What do you have against duel academy? ”

Bruno had to tread around his words very carefully, being briefed about Aki’s memory loss in his meetings there could be sorts of landmines of words and actions that could activate a memory. Though to his knowledge, she hadn’t recovered any of her memories from that time.

“Oh I have nothing against them, I just like to do research. Sometimes I have a couple of casualties but it’s a part of the scientific process I suppose."

Giving a villainous smirk, caused a snarling reaction within Aki. Though she was about to fight in anger, it was something she couldn’t quite care about at the moment. Presenting a grandiose statement to him, one where she put her weight into her words; ready to slaughter the evil in front of her, though as far as she could tell wavelength didn’t give off any abnormality. Brushing it off as she misread his wavelength initially, she was ready for this fight..So she thought.

“On behalf of Duel Academy of Neo Domino, Professor Bruno; We’re here to collect your soul."

Bruno readjusted his glasses, internally rolling his eyes as these are literal children compared to his skill level. A high ranking meister against four children? He had this in the bag.

“ I wouldn’t say that’d you be able to do that. You’ve got a strong wave length but not strong enough to destroy me. “

Aki was a bit confused, not fully understanding what he meant.

“ How would you know that? ”

“ I can see a person’s soul of course. ”

Drifting eyes settled to their chests searching for a wavelength to latch on too. Searching for their vibrations, he was able to secure the link. As hers? A fiery, blazing heat, a sense of warmth that could lull a person with the forbidden warnings of lava.

“ It seems to me that yours is growing in strength everyday, the soul of a hard worker who won’t let anyone get into your way. ”

What he’s assuming is her partner, he had an almost opposite pull of direction. A brisk, cooling wave, as a counter to her fire of soft passion, a level headedness within him and a small protective streak within his veins situated his soul in place. Leaning to Yusei she started to whisper to him,

“ If he can see our souls.. He’s definitely a top ranked meister.”

Yusei narrowed his brows, and almost snapped into her direction in astonishment. As this was a fact he knew, but he didn’t jagger down on the details when it was first presented to him.

“ What?!.. So.. does that mean you can see other people's souls too??”

Feeling a bit pressured under the circumstances, she gave an answer.

“ I.. Yeah! For sure..!”

Higher ranking meisters, especially on Godwin’s Signer council, could visually see souls and feel their wavelength, but she could only currently sense a person’s wavelength. Even then it took quite a bit of concentration to sense a person’s wavelength, she could only hope that if she had that visual ability like Ruka that it would kick in soon. Bruno, still continued on observing the three.. noting that there was one missing from the collected group a minute ago, though currently ignoring that piece of information to take up his role.

“ Yet, your partner is quite relaxed, the level headedness of a slacker.. I suppose.”

Fixing his gaze on the other girl with them, the one holding ushio captive; her wavelength held energy, holding back her true strength, the durability of fabric really; tough interior with a soft exterior.

“ No one can stop me from here! Not even the Gods themself!”

Everyone refocused their gaze to a certain blonde on the roof of his laboratory. Which wasn’t an easy feat considering the architecture lacks in climbability outside of the windows and the giant overhang on his patio, which confused Bruno on how that kid was able to get up to the roof without falling or scaling it quietly either. Thus earning a smirk from Bruno as he attempted to read Jack’s soul that was just bursting at the seams with ego in excitement.

“ Listen here blue man! I, Jack Atlas! Will be the one to take your soul!”

Jack in all of his wisdom decided to jump off the building to utilize the overhang in order to land a kick onto Bruno. He was able to successfully use the momentum of the swing to land a powerful kick, though, Bruno was just a little bit faster. Grabbing Jack’s leg, he used that momentum to throw Jack to the ground aiming for the grass near Carly so he had at the very least had a fighting chance. Carly, shocked, ran to as far as her braided chain holding Ushio would let her. Screaming out for Jack in concern for him to get back up to fight.

Snarling, “ You don’t treat my friends that way and get away with it professor.”

Briefly turning to his partner for acknowledgement, nodding in understanding she held out her hand to him as he gripped hers tightly.

“ Let’s show him what we’re made of, Aki.”

With not a moment to lose, he materialized into a scythe as Aki charged at Bruno. Her opponent didn’t have to prepare much for his attack, as he blocked her and sent her backwards tripping down to the bottom of the steps. Though she regained her footing before preparing for another attack, though if she was going to get at him, she was certainly going to have to get rid of that swivel chair, or find a way that she could use it to her advantage. Yusei’s reflection flashed in the blade, stern;

“ We’re going to have to get rid of that chair if he doesn’t get up from it. He'll use it as a weapon.”

“ You’re thinking the way I’m thinking for once Yusei, how does it feel to be smart?”

She smirked and had to give some banter back to her weapon, she wasn’t one to banter on the battlefield though there were a few times where it came quite in handy to clear their minds to refocus on the task ahead.

“ Ha ha. _Real witty_.”

Bruno, gave a hearty laugh as he glared right to aki as she started to gear up to charge at him.. Before being shoved to the side by one Jack atlas.

“ MOVE OUTTA THE WAY IZAYOI, THIS GUY IS MINE!”

Bruno stood up from his chair, gripping it as he scratched his jaw with jack gripping his fist ready to make a direct hit.

“Izayoi.. Izayoi. Where have I heard that family name before?..”

Bruno was already one step ahead, but swinging the chair from in front of him for a direct hit to jack, though Jack was ready this time to block his attack with arm and disarming Bruno, throwing the chair over Jack’s right shoulder, successfully breaking the weapon Bruno had in his possession. However as Jack started to throw direct punches to Bruno, he kept dodging and blocking. Aki started to gear up to aid Jack, Bruno gave a blow to Jack's stomach and jabbed hard at Jack’s side with his fingers before shoving him down the patio, as visible blue static sparked from Bruno, Aki was a bit dumbfounded from these turn of events.

_He can use a soul force?_

Bruno snapped his fingers, making the connection.

“Ahh it makes sense now.. You’re Setsuko’s daughter, aren’t you?”

Aki lowered her defenses, as her mother was quite a touchy subject with her. Yes, she remembers her, bringing a sense of loneliness to her heart. Letters her mother left behind addressed to Aki and only Aki, were ones she’d uncovered before moving in with the twins. She hadn’t been able to read them yet, as she wasn’t prepared emotionally to read them; still in turmoil that her father had deliberately hid or disposed of letters that she needed to read for assurance that her mother didn’t love her anymore. That she wasn’t the reason that her mother walked out all those years ago before her memory became fuzzy.

“ You.. You knew her?”

Knitting her brows in confusion, Yusei knew that he needed to intervene. He didn’t know a whole lot of Aki’s mom beside what she had told him and the unopened letters laying on the nightstand in her room. Not having the heart to open those letters, he knew enough that the topic of family could drive her in a downward spiral and fast.

“Aki, focus! He’s just trying to mess with you!”

Biting her lip she started to charge, her battlecry washing out Yusei’s warnings to wait a moment to charge ahead.

“ Why, I was _honored_ to work beside her as a colleague. ”

Getting closer she took a large swing at bruno, him dodging quickly brushed his hands together to form small sparkings of electricity. Realizing that he was going to attack directly, she tried to reverse her momentum to dodge to twirl Yusei back to her right side in order to take another shot. Bruno one step ahead of Aki, his charge in his left hand grabbing her firmly with his right, started to aim for a direct hit as Aki hesitantly blocked with Yusei sending an electric shock through them both.

“ Now, I get to fight her daughter.”

She didn’t quite lose consciousness but swore she was hallucinating from witnessing a glow.. Around.. Bruno? She wasn’t quite sure what it was as her body spun away though that thought quickly vanished as she felt an uncomfortable pull coming from her bangs, realizing that she had let go of yusei and that the professor held her by her precious locks of hair.

“Though as pretty as she was, it was a _shame_ that I couldn’t get a closer look at what made her tick. Though, a little _small_.. I suppose you’ll do well in her place.”

Aki grunted a bit in fear that this was the end of the line for her. Bruno pulled out a pocket knife, pulling up her dress shirt and tank top; he flicked the blade open to lightly press against her torso enough for red rough trails of irritated pale skin. Jack at this point had gotten back up, his vision less blurry now than earlier on in this fight.

He may not have cared for Aki, whether he liked it or not she was his teammate and Jack atlas does not abandon his comrades in battle. Struggling to get up, Carly’s screams of encouragement and concern were really the only thing that kept him motivated to keep going. He was going to be the hero today, he was going to make sure of it.

Spectating, Rex stayed attentive to the four basically getting the snot beaten out of them. While he wasn’t a fan of his students getting beaten up by his own faculty he could somewhat justify it as it was all meticulously planned to test every one to their limits. Crow, still kicked back at Rex’s desk, wasn't a huge fan of this set-up. There were definitely alternatives that rex could’ve taken before putting four of his students into a death match of two adults.

“ … Rua, Ruka, we’re heading out.”

Crow pushed himself out of Rex’s leather chair, as the twins gazed at their meister in curiosity.

The sound catching Rex’s attention, “ Crow? Where are you off too?”

Heading towards the door, the two cyan headed twins followed Crow in tow, both reaching for his hands.

“ Where do you think? They’ll die at his hands.”

“ If you interfere, they’ll fail.”

Crow stopped right in his tracks, holding both of the twins’ hands right at the frame of the open door.

“ T–Rex Godfossil.. “

Rex had to admit, Crow did manage to come up with creative and borderline insulting nicknames for most of the faculty.. Particularly for him, though it irritated the blazes out of him. Crow turned lazily back to face rex with a smirk on his face.

“ I never said that I’d be going to help. It’d be against regulations to help out on a remedial assignment. You could say that I’d be a witness. After all, who wouldn’t want to miss the chance to watch the crimson dragon fly down from the sky?”

Rex gave a sigh, before turning back to the mirror in his office at the battle playing out before him.

“… Be back by sunrise. I want to give you an extra lesson.”

Crow nodded before the twins turned into weapons form, making it easy for crow to bust out the door to make sure that Bruno hasn’t severely harmed the four of them.

“You’re not the only one who can use their soul force!!”

Bruno’s eyes widened in surprise, caught off guards as purple sparks materialized around Jack’s fist.

_What?!_

Jack thrusted his soul force punch directly into Bruno’s side, taking a stable fighting stance to reduce recoil. As his hand made contact to Bruno, he released aki as she tumbled back to the ground with Yusei calling back to her now being able to see clearly again. Despite their general sparring if they were going to get stronger, they were going to have to spar together on a daily basis to be on a similar playing field as Bruno. Aki didn’t hesitate to grab Yusei as she made her way back onto her feet.

Though Jack was able to make a direct hit, it unfortunately wasn't enough to make any real damage to Bruno. As Bruno just used his own soul force to counter back. Jack taking a direct hit before being tossed back to Carly, who had no longer been keeping Ushio hostage.

“ We need to resonate.” Looking at him as if he spoke Latin to summon a three headed demon, she protested again the idea.

“ But we haven’t been able to do that! We promised that we wouldn’t try–”

His stern reflection reappeared in the blade as his signature engraving covered part of his reflection, his voice harsh and commanding as all of their options were thinning out.

“ We don’t have a choice Aki! We have to try!”

Sighing he had a point, so far they weren’t able to give a scratch on him. Though that earlier glow around bruno was not the sign of confidence she had in herself. Letting their souls tune to the proper wavelength, it took a few minutes for them to start to sync up as Aki and Yusei concentrated as a glowing light enveloped the two, their souls sparking against their bond.

“ The stars coalescing into the sky form a new path of hope!”

In sync, Yusei’s more predominant than Aki's voice, her’s wavering with each passing second. Though she tried to block out the visual cues of blue forming around the professor, however her confidence started to wane.

“ Soul resonance: Shooting Sonic!”

Yusei’s blade grew a little in size surrounding in bright blues and white streaks of flames. As she took her aim to bruno, that was when it came to her at full force. The size of his soul. She couldn’t see hers or Yusei’s for that matter right now. Mainly as she wasn’t focused on that, realizing that this fight was one that she couldn’t win. Her eyes widening she did best to keep her aim but she couldn’t focus emotionally, causing their shooting sonic to flicker. Launching her attack, Bruno easily sidestepped her attack looking fairly disappointed, inspecting the damage as it only barely tore up the concrete and did minor damage to the front gate before turning back to aki.

She shook a bit at the size of his soul, dropping Yusei to the ground, as a clanging echo filed the silent courtyard that was just battlecries minutes ago. She blocked out Yusei’s screams of warning as she hyperfocused on his soul.

“ What’s wrong? Are you finally seeing my soul?"

Aki, collapsed to her knees dropping yusei to the ground, hanging her head in shame, of not being able to see his soul any earlier. Yusei, reverted back to his human form once again, to kneel and shake Aki to figure out what in the world had suddenly filled his meister with terror.

“ –at has gotten into you?? Aki! Listen to me! We almost had hi–”

She pulled his hands off of her, tearing up to exchange a yell to her partner.

“ You can’t see souls, Yusei! We’re outmatched, we can’t take him down!”

“Aki. Just because he has a bigger soul doesn’t mean that we automatically lose. What we do lose is our chance to beat him with the skills we learned. We don’t have any collected souls, but we’ve been able to hunt down and fight plenty of corrupted souls who are close to par with this guy–”

Yusei pointed at bruno, who started to look back up at the stars, waiting for them to finish up their pep talk.

“–All on our own. Godwin wouldn’t have given this to us if he didn’t feel that we needed it.”

She still couldn’t face him, but she is letting his words soak into her ears.

“ Don’t you want to prove to your father that you’re capable of taking care of yourself?”

Those words reignited a spark of determination in her soul enough to face her weapon with a small apology, thus earning a smile from Yusei.

“ If we die, we’ll die in style.”

Standing up he held out his hand to her, to help her back up onto her feet back again.

“C’mon let’s do it once more. Put everything we have into this last shot!”

Holding his hand she swung him back to turn him back into his weapon mode as they let their souls spark to a connection once more. Letting out a chant as they charge together

“ The stars coalescing into the sky form a new path of hope!”

Their voices, a strict harmony between alto and tenor shouting to the heavens. Yusei’s blade doubled from their first resonance, as they were combining their strength and confidence together as one unit.

“ Soul resonance: Shooting Sonic!”

Ready for a direct attack on Bruno, in order to slaughter the evil standing in front of them, with a direct charge.

“That’s IT! BRing IT! I’LL COUNTER IT!”

As the two laid a direct attack on Bruno he clasped the blade between his hands attempting to steady himself as he analyzed their waves, attacking together. Bruno was struggling quite a bit keeping their resonance in place against their clashing waves, noting that their power is quite raw but it needed refinement. With their resonance not wavering the slightest, Bruno’s glasses started to crack as his muscles started to waiver from their pure force. He managed to repulse their wavelength back, causing the two of them to short circuit, stalling as they smacked the pavement.

Tumbling back onto the concrete in defeat, Aki couldn’t move much at all.. That last resonance took a bit out of her, but it was successful at the very least. But she had to keep fighting, though her limbs were screaming to let herself rest. There was only so much she could take against a strong opponent this round.

Laying at the concrete covered in scratches, heaving in a small attempt to calm her nerves as her weapon was no longer in her grasp. Her hands quivering and her vision ready to fade out at a moment’s notice. Blood staining his lip and his head pounding as his weapon form rested a few meters from his injured meister, remembering most of his father’s words.

 _“Protect your meister, Yusei. They are vital to you, as you are vital to them. You need each other in order to be a functioning team_.”

Knowing what he needed to do, he dematerialized out of his weapon form back into his human form, guarding over his meister shielding her with his body. The cuts in his palms seared against the debris of the concrete against the deep breathing of his meister, making direct contact to the eyes of the bear, that in a metaphorical sense is Professor Bruno.

“ I won’t let you touch my meister.”

Wincing in a bit of pain through his palms, steading his weight carefully to not crush his meister beneath him.Bruno rolled his eyes, as he leaned down towards the two while Yusei braced himself for the worst, waiting for more pain that lied ahead.

“ Fine.. I’ll start with you then.”

Bruno gently let his hand rest on Yusei’s head, where Yusei had to take a minute to process the next statement that came from professor Bruno.

“ Congrats! You all receive a passing grade.”

Aki felt that she was going to cry from tears of joy though fairly stressed, though her body was numb with pain from tumbling around nonetheless grateful. Jack was in a worse state as he was starting headstrong from the beginning of the fight. Yusei felt the adrenaline rush out from his body though a bit confused.

“ I’m sorry.. _What now?_ ”

“ Quite frankly I found it touching that you’re more than willing to sacrifice yourself for your meister, so I’ll give you an extra point for that.”

“ So.. You’re not going to tear us apart limb from limb?”

“ No no of course not! I’m terribly sorry about all of that, Godwin asked me to put on a believable front for you all.”

Ushio had also chosen to speak up to support the professor with a bit of a chuckle.

“ You see.. Godwin also asked me to help out with your remedial lesson too. The man I am, I wouldn’t normally beat up students for the hell of it. Though it was fun for both of us to beat the snot out of you guys.”

Yusei lost faith in the educational system of duel academy, while Aki was focusing on letting herself rest. Bruno gave a soft smile to the two as he started to inspect Yusei for any major visible wounds before getting up. Jack had closed his eyes at this point, with Carly holding him in her arms to keep him elevated as she kneeled on the concrete.

“Now, I’ll get some medication to ease those wounds you all sustained.”

Bruno skittered back off inside to grab various medicines. Yusei let his body flop down next to Aki in relief that at least today he wasn’t going to be torn apart. Aki rolled onto her back to look up at the cloudy night sky faintly start to lighten up, as in a few hours the sun will rise.

The dream team was a bit unsettled by the 180º turn around from professor Bruno. Jack pointed out his perspective on the matter to his weapon which earned a stern warning to choose his next words very carefully.

“ At least he’s nice..” Yusei also on his back spoke up, a bit hoarse from performing a soul resonance twice, turned to face his meister.

“ You doin’ okay?”

Flat on her back she made eye contact with her partner, the two of them smiling in their victory from being brutally beaten and thrown around. Her clothes now a mess, and her stockings torn from combat, mentally cursing that she’ll have to buy another pair this week as those were her heavier built nylons.

“Yea.. yeah. What about you?”

Sitting up, he extended his hand out to at least to help her sit up. Rubbing his back, all he wanted was a heat pack all over his body to relax his muscles. Dreading the next morning to take the morning train, as he wasn’t able to make the final adjustments to his Runner, even though he had bought a parking pass for the academic year.

“ Sore, but I’ll be fine.”

An unfamiliar voice to Yusei and Aki, boomed from a distance though Jack‘s face lit up in excitement while Carly was still fairly neutral.

“ So it seems that I’m late to the party, huh?”


End file.
